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In the social sciences, economics is the study of human choice behavior and the methodology used in making production decisions; in particular, though not limited to, how those choices and decisions determine the allocation of scarce resources and their effect on production, distribution, and consumption. Economics studies how individuals and societies seek to satisfy needs and wants through incentives, choices, and allocations within a given set of resource constraints. Alfred Marshall in the late 19th century informally described economics as "the study of man in the ordinary business of life."

The word "economics" is from the Greek words οἶκος [oikos], meaning "family, household, estate," and νόμος [nomos], or "custom, law," and hence literally means "household management" or "management of the state." An economist is a person using economic concepts and data in the course of employment, or someone who has earned a university degree in the subject.

The field may be divided in several different ways, most popularly microeconomics (at the level of individual choices) vs. macroeconomics (aggregate results), but also descriptive vs. normative, mainstream vs. heterodox, and by subfield. Economics has many direct applications in business, personal finance, and government. Theories and empirical techniques developed as a part of economics have, given that economics is fundamentally about human decision making, been applied to non-monetary choices in fields as diverse as criminal behavior, scientific research, death, politics, health, education, family, dating, etc.